Composite placement machines for forming high strength low weight articles from high strength fiber or tape and a resin binder are well known in the art. Such machines normally comprise a composites placement head supported by an overhead gantry mechanism, or mounted on the end of a manipulator such as a robot arm. The head is maneuvered on the end of its support to apply composite material to the tool as required. In some embodiments, the tool may also be non-stationary during material application as in the case of a cylindrical form or tool that is rotated around its center axis. Such machines are large and expensive, and the use of a gantry or robot based machine to fabricate a small flat part is not an efficient use of resources.
Large composite layup machines are used to produce aircraft skins made of composite material, for example, tape laying machines for parts like wings and stabilizers, and fiber placement machines for fuselages, nacelles, and similar contoured parts. In addition to the large composite section parts, there are also a large number of small composite parts used to connect reinforcing members like frames to the skin. A common method for manufacturing these small composite parts is to use a large machine to create a flat laminate that is cut to size and draped over a tool to form the small part's final shape. Often a flat laminate is made much larger than the single small part and multiple flat laminates are cut out from the single large laminate, creating a large amount of waste material for the portions that are not useable. The use of a large machine to produce a small flat laminate is not cost efficient, and is an inefficient use of resources. Because a large number of small laminates are often formed from one large laminate, the sorting and tracking of the small laminates is difficult logistically and time consuming to manage.
It would accordingly be desirable to have a composite machine that is specifically designed for producing small flat laminates that are tailored specifically for each part.
It would also be desirable to significantly reduce the amount of waste material that is generated in the current method of making small parts.
It would further be desirable to manufacture small parts in a manner that would make the tracking of each part much easier.
It would further be desirable to employ a simplified machine that would allow much faster laydown rates and higher throughput, and would reduce the amount of capital that must be invested in the material laydown machine.